EVELYN.THORN@cluthaleader.co.nz
When it comes to making a film in 48 hours, every minute counts.
Papatowai resident Nicole Peake gathered a Southern crew of seven from Owaka, Papatowai and Invercargill to compete in the recent 48›Hour Film Competition.
The team won ‘‘fan favourite’’ and Mrs Peake won the Women In Film and Television award for outstanding female film›maker for the group’s film
Thinking Out Loud.
They were also nominated for best use of element (bird’s or worm’s›eye view), best cinematography and best character award.
Mrs Peake said the key to committing to writing, filming, editing and producing a short film in 48 hours was managing time and keeping the wheels turning at every angle.
‘‘There were definitely some aspects we had to deal with on filming day,’’ she said.
That included when characters had to change direction for filming to continue, but the crew found the Catlins Rally was on — ‘‘so we decided to incorporate it and use our surroundings as props’’.
The entire film was produced in the Papatowai area.
‘‘We worked really well together and bounced ideas off each other on Friday night to brainstorm. We managed to work with the depressing weather on the day and editing made it seem like it was all bright and sunny.’’
Teams were given a genre and list of expectations at 7pm on Friday, August 12, and had until 7pm on Sunday, August 14, to create their films.
More than 550 teams entered nationwide, 21 from Otago and Southland.
‘‘We were given the genre comedy of errors, kind of like a series of unfortunate events that could have been halted but weren’t. We made the decision to create the story of an adventurous proposal of a deaf man to his girlfriend,’’ Mrs Peake said.
‘‘We made it spontaneous, we worked together and managed each other well. Everything was filmed on my iPhone but the quality turned out great. One of our prompts was to use a sign, so we used it figuratively and used New Zealand Sign Language to portray out›of›the›box thinking through our filming.’’
As the competition was the first foray into film›making for some of the team, prospects for next year were bright, she said.
‘‘It’s exciting because of how far we’ve improved, so we want to see how much we can continue to improve in future competitions and progress through film› making.’’
The team is still in the running for national awards and the film will be released on the 48›Hours website once the competition ends.
